Dramatic CD
by Jackie Wepps
Summary: Anyone should be able to guess at least part of the outcome of this story. But how exactly did it go from Mutsumi's book to two boys in a room making love confessions?
1. Dramatic CD

**Because of all the positive response on my first work for this series ( Hotel Room Fantasies), I decided that I needed to do at least one more work, even if we all know that when the first time is good, the second always have trouble living up to the standards. I hope it is well accepted though. **

**The source for inspiration is mentioned in the story. We just so happened to be working with that in English by the time I got the idea and I could hardly attend class without the Fujoshi switch being turned on.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoy this story, since it is mainly a work created as I can express my gratitude for all the positive response.**

* * *

Serinuma came to the table, carrying her lunch with her. Nanashima and Igarashi had been held up in class, so she had gone on ahead without them. Mutsumi was already sitting by the table. He was reading a book with a title in English.

"Hello Mutsumi-senpai, what are you reading?" Serinuma asked as she seated herself at the table, across from Mutsumi.

Mutsumi looked up from the book. "Hello Serinuma-san," he said, smiling. "This is a play by Shakespeare called Romeo and Juliet," he answered her question.

"I've heard the language in his plays should be pretty hard to comprehend," Serinuma said in a slightly impressed tone.

"It is," Nishina said. She had just arrived at the table with Shinomiya following right behind her.

"Where is Nanashima-senpai and Igarashi-senpai," Shinomiya asked as he sat down beside Serinuma, before Nishina could get the chance. Nishina then went to sit beside Mutsumi with a slightly irritated expression, which no one took note of.

"Nanashima-kun and Igarashi-kun had to stay behind for a bit," Serinuma answered Shinomiya's question.

Shinomiya nodded his head at her response before he turned his attention to Mutsumi, or more accurately, his book. "What's that, Mutsumi-senpai?" he asked.

"Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare," Mutsumi answered.

"What's it about?" Shinomiya asked.

"It's a tragedy involving two lovers. Their families fight so they cannot be together. They end up committing suicide," Nishina explained in a dry tone. She didn't really care much for the actual play.

"You know so much, Shima-chan," Serinuma said with an impressed smile at Nishina.

"There is a more thorough summary in the back of the book," Mutsumi said. He put a bookmark in to mark the place he was at before he flipped to the back of the book. He then laid it out for Serinuma, Nishina and Shinomiya to read.

"But Mutsumi-senpai, why would you read something like this?" Serinuma asked as she looked up after having finished reading the summary. "Do you like stories like these?" she asked.

"It's just something we're reading in class," Mutsumi said. "I don't dislike it, but I wouldn't say I like it either."

"But to think that he would poison himself because he thought she was dead, isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Shinomiya asked, only then having finished the summary.

"Romeo is a melodramatic character," Mutsumi said.

"It does seem exaggerated though," Serinuma said in a slightly thoughtful tone. "But Juliet is also taking a huge risk by faking her own death like that."

"Well, she loves Romeo," Mutsumi explained. "It was the only way for them to be together, if it had gone right." He pulled back the book and closed it, deciding that he was done reading for now.

"But… I've heard it wasn't allowed for women to act in England at that time," Shinomiya said. "How did they pull a play like that off?"

"Well," Mutsumi said, well aware that he would get some kind of reaction from his next words. "Juliet, and the remaining female characters, were played by boys."

"So… both Romeo's and Juliet's roles were… played by men?" Serinuma asked.

Mutsumi simply nodded his head. "Modern interpretations does have Juliet's role played by an actress though." He said.

However, it seemed like Serinuma hadn't heard the last part as she turned to Nishina with her eyes shining brightly with excitement. "Could it be possible to take two characters and base a story between them on Romeo and Juliet?" Serinuma asked.

Nishina thought. "It is possible, but I don't think there are any characters to do it with at the moment, at least not fictional ones," she said.

Serinuma looked a little surprised at first, but then it looked as if she had gotten an idea. Shinomiya was starting to feel nervous because her gaze was slowly trailing to him. He was getting a bad feeling, like she was going to think him into Juliet's role.

However, not a word escaped Serinuma's mouth until she was looking at Mutsumi, her eyes were still sparkling.

"Mutsumi-senpai, can I borrow that script until tomorrow afternoon?" she asked.

Mutsumi seemed to consider for a little, but then he smiled and handed her the book. "Sure, just please don't remove the bookmark," he instructed.

Serinuma promised that she wouldn't remove the bookmark and accepted the book. Only a minute later, Nanashima and Igarashi joined them, but at that time, they were already discussing something entirely different.

* * *

The following day, Serinuma asked all of them to meet her on the roof after school except Nishina, whom she was to meet with somewhere else before then. So after school, Nanashima, Igarashi, Mutsumi and Shinomiya found themselves standing on the roof together, just waiting for Serinuma and Nishina to show up.

"So, do any of you have an idea of what Serinuma wants?" Igarashi asked.

"No," Nanashima answered. "She's seemed secretive all day, won't say a thing,"

Shinomiya wasn't sure, something told him that he did know, but he wouldn't dare voice his suspicion, hoping that he was wrong.

"She said she would hand me back my book by this time. Maybe it has something to do with that?" Mutsumi suggested, thereby voicing Shinomiya's suspicion for him.

"Your book?" Nanashima asked.

"What kind of book?" Igarashi asked.

"The script for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. We are working with it in English at the moment," Mutsumi said. "Yesterday Serinuma-san asked if she could borrow it and so I let her borrow it."

Nanashima looked like he was getting started on thinking. "What could she need that for?" he asked aloud.

"Whatever the purpose, I'm not sure we're gonna like it," Shinomiya said.

"Not all of us," Nanashima said, getting a more relaxed look on his face. "I might, if she suggests that I play Romeo and she's playing Juliet."

"I'd honestly feel better if I was playing Romeo and she was playing Juliet. You would probably serve better as that guy whom her parents want her to marry, Nana," Igarashi said while smirking.

"I-If we're talking about that, I should be romeo!" Shinomiya yelled.

Nanashima and Igarashi laughed.

"No way," Nanashima said. "You'd work better in the supporting cast."

"So would your role, Nana," Igarashi said as if he was pointing out a fact.

"No one named you Romeo!" Nanashima and Shinomiya yelled in the same time.

"I'd personally find it easier to see Shinomiya in a feminine role," Igarashi continued unaffected. To top it off, he even managed to ignore Shinomiya's irritated look after the final remark.

"Well, the female roles were held by younger actors in Shakespeare's time," Mutsumi pointed out, just like he had done on the day before.

Nanashima and Igarashi both turned to stare at Mutsumi. They hadn't been there on the day before when the others had talked about Romeo and Juliet, so they hadn't heard of that minor detail before.

"What-" Nanashima began, but then the door slammed open and Serinuma and Nishina walked out on the roof with satisfied expressions on their faces.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long," Serinuma said, unable to wipe the happy smile off her face.

Igarashi, Nanashima and Shinomiya all looked at the two girls with horrified expressions. The idea of playing a female character wasn't exactly appealing, especially not for Shinomiya who had done it once before.

"No need to worry," Mutsumi said, being the only one who sent Serinuma a smile as she and Nishina came over. "We haven't been waiting long."

"That's good to hear," Serinuma said, looking relieved. "So, I finished what I had planned to show to all of you," she began while holding a bunch of papers close to her chest.

"What have you planned?" Igarashi asked, slightly suspiciously.

Serinuma smiled. "I was spending time rewriting the Romeo and Juliet play," she said as she walked up to Mutsumi and handed him back the book. "Thank you for lending me this, Mutsumi-senpai," she said.

"It's no problem," Mutsumi replied as he took back his book, allowing Serinuma to get back at the subject.

"The play is still Romeo and Juliet but with a twist. After a long time of debating with myself, I asked Shima-chan and we agreed that Igarashi-kun and Nanashima-kun are gonna be the protagonists in the story," Serinuma said, relieving Mutsumi and Shinomiya from their worries, but making Nanashima and Igarashi send each other a slightly nervous look.

"So… what will we be doing?" Nanashima asked. "Is one of us… going to… dress up as a girl?" He had a lot of trouble saying those words. He didn't like the thought of dressing up as a girl, much less did he like the thought of anyone having to see him like that.

"It would be too much of a bother to make an actual drama," Nishina said as she stepped forward. "We were thinking of making it a radio drama, like a drama CD."

"Then, what roles will Shinomiya and I have?" Mutsumi asked.

"You will be the good friends who are trying to keep up a secret romance. Your characters are slightly based of Benvolio and Mercutio from the original play," Serinuma explained. "The primary story is almost a direct copy of the first two acts, ending with the marriage and then a happy ending," she explained.

"Nice…" Igarashi muttered as Nishina walked around among them, handing out manuscripts which she and Serinuma had been copying just before they went to the roof.

Nanashima flipped through the script which he had just received, primarily checking through the actions they would be doing. "Well, at least it's just a drama CD."

"It still has to sound realistic," Nishina said with a smirk on her face.

"But where would we even record. No one has the equipment," Igarashi said.

"Well, anything's easy to get if you've got the money," Nishina replied, revealing just how much she wanted to support Serinuma in doing this.

* * *

"I wonder who got poisoned, Romeo, Juliet or Serinuma," Nanashima commented as he and Igarashi were walking home together.

"That's rude to say," Igarashi said in a slightly strict tone.

"But think, Igarashi, think about how she has never been this forceful with her shipping of us before. Don't you think it's a little weird that she's suddenly changing?" Nanashima asked.

"So you're saying that whatever poison she drank, it would have made her shipping more forceful?" Igarashi asked, shaking his head at Nanashima's suggestion. He would agree it was weird, but he was never gonna go as far as saying that Serinuma had gotten poisoned. That was putting it way too rudely.

"Well, yeah…" Nanashima suddenly sounded a bit more hesitant. "Put like that, I see your point. It is a bit rude to say."

"Be glad no one else heard you," Igarashi said, sounding calm.

Nanashima suddenly felt a bit concerned for himself. "You're going to make me pay for it, aren't you?" he asked.

"We'll see," Igarashi replied. "You have noticed that Serinuma didn't specify our roles, didn't you?" he asked.

"Like who is going to play the part based on Romeo and the part based on Juliet?" Nanashima asked. "Now that you mention it, she never said who was who of those two."

"I believe she wants us to decide," Igarashi said.

"I'd rather not." Nanashima said.

"So you're saying you don't mind letting me being the dominating one?" Igarashi asked, looking at Nanashima through the corner of his eye with a smirk on his lips.

"I never said that!" Nanashima yelled, stopping to flash an angry expression at Igarashi. "If anything, I would rather be the dominating one!"

Igarashi also stopped and turned towards Nanashima. "Well, since you don't agree with me, we'll have to decide by rock-paper-scissors," he just said, still seeming calm. "You do remember who won last time, right?"

Nanashima had to swallow while he was considering if he should accept the challenge or just give up before he was forced to do it. He decided that he would rather run the risk of being forced, since it still left the possibility open that Igarashi would miraculously lose.

"If you're trying to make me back down it's not working," Nanashima allowed a smirk to show on his face as well as he put his fist forward, preparing for battle.

"I thought for a moment that you were about to back down, but I'm glad you accepted my challenge," Igarashi said, his smirk turning mocking.

They did one round of rock-paper-scissors, Nanashima lost and demanded a best of three. It didn't help at all. It only made matters worse with the score being three points to Igarashi and no points to Nanashima.

"At least you lost fair and square," Igarashi said as Nanashima turned around and demonstratively walked the other way, opposite of his own house.

Igarashi simply shook his head at his friend. He knew everything would be fine by tomorrow, so he decided not to do more about the matter. Now he had won the fight of domination. He knew Serinuma would be happy, but what if she knew of his motivation for winning this small battle? What if anyone knew of that, what would they think?

* * *

Despite Igarashi's believes that everything between him and Nanashima would be fine on the following day, it turned out not to be so. In fact, Nanashima had made a point of getting up even earlier than usual as he could go to school without accidentally running into Igarashi on the way there.

Nanashima was already sitting on his chair when Igarashi entered the classroom with a surprisingly calm expression. Serinuma entered as Igarashi was making his way to his seat. Luckily for Nanashima, Igarashi noticed this and went to talk to Serinuma. Nanashima could faintly hear what was being said and if he hadn't been able to guess it though what he heard, he could guess it from Serinuma's overjoyed expression. Igarashi had simply told her of their decision on how to divide the roles between them.

As both Igarashi and Serinuma walked to their seats with happy expressions on their faces, Nanashima found himself wondering for the hundredth time why they were even doing this drama CD-thing.

"You have read the manuscript, right Nana?" Igarashi dared to ask just before class began.

Nanashima frowned. He had, and he actually didn't mind most of it, except the alternative ending which Serinuma had written. He didn't dislike it because it was her, that was actually the one and only thing that kept him from tearing the entire script to pieces. He disliked it because of what he was going to do in that part.

* * *

"Well, I'm glad it turned out the way it did," Nishina said at lunch break once she had heard of how Igarashi and Nanashima had decided to divide the roles between them. "Senpai did say the character based on Juliet actually shares a few character-trades with Nanashima."

"Seriously? Why is everyone on his side?" Nanashima yelled while pointing at Igarashi, whom he had seated himself as far away from as possible.

"Because it turned out like they wanted, Nana," Igarashi said, still smiling like nothing was bothering him.

Nanashima simply frowned at that. He didn't want to hear another word Igarashi had to say, not today, not tomorrow, not ever if at all possible.

"Now, is it that bad?" Mutsumi asked. "It's nothing more than a role."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not a girl and I'm not gay, Mutsumi-senpai," Nanashima asked in a dark tone.

"Well, Mutsumi-senpai and I are supposed to be the slightly homosexual supporting cast, and we aren't complaining," Shinomiya said.

"Well, no one expects for Mutsumi-senpai to mind and you've dressed up before, you've gotta be used to it," Nanashima said, his tone cold.

Shinomiya glared at Nanashima. He really didn't like having stuff like that brought up too often. It wasn't one of his best memories, to put it nicely.

"Anyway, if everyone has read through the manuscript overnight, maybe we should start practicing at Shima-chan's place today?" Serinuma asked.

"That's a good idea, Senpai," Nishina said, smiling approvingly. "Nanashima's gonna come too, right?" she asked.

Nanashima really didn't want to, But he could feel as everyone else were looking at him with a slight demand behind their gaze. The only one that stood out from the others was Serinuma whose eyes were large and pleading for him to come. That, and Igarashi's slightly mocking smirk was enough to make Nanashima make up his mind.

"What do you expect, of course I'm gonna be there," he told Nishina while keeping all signs of enthusiasm out of his voice.

* * *

The first thing they did when arriving at Nishina's place was to go into one of her many rooms and start reading the manuscript with their assigned roles. Half way through the first act of the play, which some thought to be embarrassing, Nishina's maid knocked on the door and asked if they would like some tea. Nishina accepted the offer and within five minutes, everyone sat with a cup of tea in front of them.

The idea should prove to serve Nanashima and Shinomiya especially well. Whenever one of them dropped a slightly uncomfortable line, they would raise their teacup to their face and use it to hide their facial expressions.

They reached the end of the manuscript, or at least the point where the original manuscript stopped. The manuscript Serinuma had written continued with Nishina wedding Nanashima and Igarashi. For this scene, Shinomiya and Mutsumi moved slightly away while Serinuma said and held herself back as she wasn't going to lean too much forward.

"Is this really just a play?" Nanashima asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"It seems a little too real, doesn't it?" Igarashi said.

Nanashima nodded his head. "That's what bothers me."

"You two should get back in character," Nishina said in a demanding tone. "Do you want this over with or not?" she asked, knowing which one the two boys would pick.

Igarashi was the one with the following line and he spoke it, thereby making them resume the play. It went way smoother than he and Nanashima had expected.

"How did you like it?" Serinuma asked as soon as the final line had been said. She was looking from Igarashi to Nanashima, to Shinomiya to Mutsumi with eyes filled with excitement and a happy smile on her face.

"It was a good play," Mutsumi said. "It would be very popular in modern times like these. Good job, Serinuma-san." He smiled encouragingly at Serinuma, who felt completely light with happiness.

"It wasn't bad and I actually didn't mind my part as much as I had feared," Shinomiya said.

"It was a good play," Igarashi said. "There might be a lack of something humorous but aside from that, I didn't mind playing this at all."

"Does a play need humor?" Serinuma asked.

"Some do," Mutsumi said. "I agree this could use some, but not too much. It is a serious play. If too much humor is added, it may not appear as seriously as it should and the deeper meaning might get lost in laughs," he explained.

"You're right, Mutsumi-senpai," Serinuma said. "Thank you!"

"It was uncomfortable to go through it and pretend to like him," Nanashima said with a reference to Igarashi. "But it wasn't bad. If I had to, I could do it again."

"That's fortunate, because you have to do it a couple more times," Nishina said.

"I'm not gonna do it more than once unless I gain something for it!" Nanashima yelled, standing up and dropping his manuscript on the floor.

"Well, I was thinking that Nana might need to practice speaking his lines with a bit more emotion," Igarashi said. "You sound more like you're just reading them aloud."

"How enthusiastic would you be if you were in my situation?" Nanashima asked.

"Well, one should at least try," Igarashi argued. "Anyways, Serinuma, since you have read a lot of BL, then maybe you could teach Nana how to speak when pretending to be in love with a boy, what mood to use," Igarashi suggested.

"Sure," Serinuma said. "I'd be happy to help!" Her face was shining brightly with joy from that suggestion. She had extra motivation for helping out Nanashima because it was as Igarashi had implied, she was the right person to ask on that matter. Aside from that, she was a person who really liked to help out others.

Nanashima was caught off guard. He hadn't expected that Igarashi would suggest that he was spending time with Serinuma, without the others being around. Why would he suggest something like that? Nanashima couldn't see what the motivation behind it would be. But that didn't matter now. The more important part of the matter was that because of the reward for taking further part in this was involving alone time with Serinuma, it suddenly became something he absolutely couldn't decline.

* * *

Already on the following day, Serinuma invited Nanashima to her place alone as she could help him practice his lines. Nishina and Shinomiya both displayed their jealousy but Mutsumi, and even Igarashi, had been completely calm about it. If it hadn't been for the fact that Nanashima wasn't exactly happy about what he was going to do with Serinuma, he would have bragged to try and add something to the jealousy the younger ones were displaying and the Igarashi and Mutsumi seemed to lack.

As Serinuma led the way to her place that afternoon, Nanashima found thimself thinking about why the response among the others had been as it had? He had expected for both Nishina and Shinomiya to be jealous of him spending time with Serinuma. For Mutsumi not to mind anyone spending time with Serinuma was not so uncommon, especially seeing as there was a motive behind today's events. What Nanashima didn't understand, and what kept him thinking, was the way Igarashi had responded, or hadn't responded. If truth be told, Nanashima had expected at least some kind of reaction from the other, one little hint of jealousy or one attempt to join them, but there hadn't been any of that. Igarashi had seemed supportive in a way that made it seem like he was uninterested in Serinuma, like he couldn't care less about what could happen to her relationship status if she spent time alone with Nanashima.

"Is something wrong, Nanashima-kun?" Serinuma asked, suddenly turning around to face Nanashima. "You haven't said a thing all the way," she was really sounded concerned.

"Nah, no," Nanashima put on a smile, not wanting to tell Serinuma about his observations. There was no need. It was all up in his head anyway. Yes, he was just overanalyzing the situation. There was no need to tell her something like that and have her think about it too for no reason.

Serinuma looked suspiciously at him but then put on a smile as well. "We will reach my place in just a minute," she said as she walked on ahead. Nanashima hurried as he could walk by her side and attempted to start a conversation regarding the subject they had been working with in history today. They were still talking about that when Serinuma led the way inside her house and up to her room.

Upon entering, Nanashima suddenly recalled the first time he had been in Serinuma's room when they were studying. Serinuma had tried to hide the fact that she was a VERY big fan of Shion from Mirage Saga and the fact that she liked to read BL. She wasn't so busy hiding anything away now. They sat on her floor by the small table, the manuscript lying there. The BL had been piled up in a corner, whatever couldn't be in the closet or somewhere else. More anime-related goods had been added to all those displaying Shion. Aside from that, nothing had changed.

"Well, let's get started," Serinuma said. "It is the love that's the problem."

"I don't get how I'm supposed to pretend that I love Igarashi," Nanashima said.

Serinuma gave it some thought. She smiled once she thought she had come up with a bright idea. "Then don't think of it as you loving Igarashi-kun. Think of it as Jull loving Milo." She advised.

Nanashima thought on that. Pretending becoming one with that role and pretend to like Igarashi's role. He wasn't sure if he could do it, but it was worth a try.

"Try it," Serinuma encouraged. "I'll say Milo's lines and you say Jull's."

Nanashima tried, from the first scene where they were having a dialogue. It somewhat helped. He was able to add a bit more emotion to his lines, but he wasn't sure how well he was doing. Some of the lines were still pretty embarrassing, most that fell into that category even made him blush. Serinuma smiled all the way through. However, if that was because he was doing well or because he was blushing, Nanashima couldn't tell.

"You're doing well, Nanashima-kun," Serinuma said as the sun was about to set outside her window.

"You think so?" Nanashima asked.

"Yes," Serinuma said. "In fact, I would like you to try with Igarashi-kun sometime soon."

Nanashima frowned. Serinuma might think he was ready to take that step now, but he thought it was still way too soon for that. He couldn't go say these things to anyone, especially not Igarashi. They were way too embarrassing.

"Let's try practicing with him tomorrow, you can both come here, or we could be at your place?" Serinuma suggested, oblivious to Nanashima's reaction regarding practicing with Igarashi.

"E-either one is fine," Nanashima said, not sure if he was doing the right thing by letting Serinuma decide.

"Then, going to your place might be best, if you don't mind," Serinuma said.

"Okay," Nanashima decided to pretend like it was all fine as he put the manuscript in his bag and stood up, getting ready to leave for now. It was getting late, and he had grown tired from practicing the same stupidly difficult lines so many times. "I will see you tomorrow," he said as he headed to the door.

"Hold on, I'll walk you out!" Serinuma quickly got up and went to walk Nanashima out. They said goodbye and Serinuma went back inside while Nanashima went home, his mind filled with love confessions and thoughts of Igarashi.

* * *

That same evening, right after Nanashima had left; Serinuma called Igarashi and told him what she and Nanashima had planned for the following day. So on the following day, the two met up to walk to Nanashima's house together.

"How did it go?" Igarashi asked.

"Nanashima-kun did really good. He has almost mastered it," Serinuma said. They had had this conversation on the night before but Igarashi had wanted to hear it again and Serinuma had forgotten about the conversation.

"What do you mean by almost?" Igarashi asked.

Serinuma thought on that. "He manages to act with emotion now, so I said that I wanted him to practice with you because it is the natural next step."

Igarashi smiled. "I wonder how it'll turn out this time," he said.

They were walking in silence for a bit, until Serinuma couldn't keep in a question that had been on her mind for the past two days.

"Igarashi-kun, how come you seem so enthusiastic about the project. Shouldn't you… be more reluctant, like Nanashima-kun?" Serinuma asked.

Igarashi decided to look at the girls who were walking a dog and heading in the opposite direction as he gave his reply.

"It's your project, Serinuma," he said. "And the story is fairly good. I guess I just like it and it affects my enthusiasm."

"I see," Serinuma said, smiling, although something inside her wasn't entirely convinced that his reply was completely honest.

It wasn't long after that when they reached Nanashima's house. They had barely managed to ring the doorbell before Nanashima was there to let them in. He was trying to keep any trace of emotion out of his face but Igarashi could easily tell that he was nervous. The most notable thing was the fact that Nanashima primarily looked at Serinuma rather than at Igarashi. In fact, they only had a brief moment of eye contact, which made Igarashi wonder if Serinuma had been calling for the next step a bit too soon.

No one in Nanashima's family was home, not even his little sister, which was probably the best possible situation for all of them.

Nanashima led the way to his room where he, Igarashi and Serinuma all sat on the floor. All three were holding their own copy of the manuscript.

There was a slightly tense silence between the three of them which neither Nanashima nor Igarashi dared to break. They were both taking turns looking between each other and Serinuma, waiting anxiously for when something would need to happen.

"So…" Serinuma said, also feeling the awkward tension in the air. "Why don't we start from your first dialogue in the first act?" she suggested. "Nanashima-kun, remember what I told you yesterday." She was slowly starting to fall back into the role as director, instructing the two boys in how to act out their roles as best as possible.

Nanashima and Igarashi both flipped to the page where the first dialogue began and stared at it in silence. Nanashima was the one with the first line, but he had trouble remembering what to do exactly. When he finally began speaking, his voice sounded stiff and shaky and his face soon turned red. He was staring very intensely at the papers, focusing only on the letters, but when he had read the same line four times, Igarashi placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Nana, if you can't do this, then say so," he said.

"I can do it!" Nanashima demonstratively pulled himself away from Igarashi, though there was still a slight shade of pink on his cheeks.

"Do you want me to leave?" Igarashi was staring intensely into Nanashima's eyes.

Nanashima quickly looked away, back down at his manuscript, not wanting to face his best friend. He took in a deep breath to calm himself before he looked up, staring at a spot on the wall, a little next to Igarashi's head.

"It's fine," he said, any trace of nervousness gone from his voice. "Let's start over."

And so, they started from the top. Nanashima did way better. He managed to pull in all the emotion his character would need to display and Igarashi did the same. Serinuma sat and listened with her eyes sparkling with excitement and a smile on her face. She was happy to see her friends make progress with their acting skills.

But the good acting stopped as soon as they reached the actual love confession and the more embarrassing lines in the play. Nanashima blushed and stuttered often and had to look at his manuscript all the time to cover up his facial expression. He had just finished a line when Igarashi decided to interrupt the play again.

"Nana, we can stop if you want," he said.

"I don't," Nanashima said, sounding like a stubborn child.

"Do you want me to leave?" Igarashi asked, being pretty sure that it was his presence that made Nanashima worse at acting.

"No," Nanashima said, lowering the manuscript from his face. He still wasn't looking Igarashi in the eyes.

"Would it help if Serinuma-san left?" Igarashi said, wondering if her presence was what troubled Nanashima.

"I can leave if my presence is distracting," Serinuma said quickly.

Nanashima hesitated. He didn't feel like being let alone with Igarashi, but on the other hand, he felt like they had something to talk about which Serinuma absolutely didn't need to hear.

Igarashi turned to Serinuma. "Maybe you should go take a break and stretch your legs. We have been at this for a while now," he said.

Serinuma smiled, being happy with Igarashi's politeness.

"I will go for a short walk then," she said and she stood up to go out for a short walk while wondering what was going to happen while she was gone. That was all left up to her imagination, which meant that basically anything could happen.

Once Serinuma was gone, Igarashi turned to Nanashima, reading from his own manuscript. He continued with the line they had reached, putting as much of his feelings into it as he possibly could.

Nanashima stared, and then got back to his own manuscript to read the following line. They kept at that for about a minute until Nanashima stopped again, blushing from embarrassment.

"Why do you blush like that?" Igarashi asked.

Nanashima looked up, surprised. He had thought he had managed to hide it, seeing as he had raised his manuscript all the way up to his face as he felt the heat in his cheeks.

"Don't look surprised," Igarashi said. "And don't try to hide it, it's obvious," he said, leaning backwards as his back was resting against Nanashima's bed.

That remark only made Nanashima look even more surprised as he stared at Igarashi. "I wasn't…" he started, but from the look Igarashi sent him, he realized there was no point in lying. "The lines are embarrassing," he said, refusing to look at Igarashi at all.

"They're pretty straightforward," Igarashi said in agreement. "I'd say they suit you though."

"Are you saying I'm straightforward?" Nanashima asked.

Igarashi shrugged. "Sometimes," he said. "But Serinuma-san said you were doing well yesterday. What changed?" he asked.

Nanashima thought on that. "Her method isn't working as well today as it did yesterday," he said, honestly.

Igarashi raised an eyebrow. "What kind of method did she tell you to use?" he asked. He figured that Serinuma would seriously think up a method that would work and not something that would only work for one day.

"I had to think of myself as Jull and you as Milo. I can't seem to focus on it today," Nanashima said, turning slightly away. He obviously didn't want to talk more about it, but Igarashi had gotten curious.

"So, what didn't work today?" Igarashi asked as casually as possible.

"Just some stuff," Nanashima replied, raising his manuscript to his face to make sure that no one could see the red in his cheeks.

"Couldn't you think of yourself as Jull, or was it me you couldn't see as Milo?" Igarashi asked, still doing his best to sound casual.

"You're not hiding your curiosity well," Nanashima said, moving the manuscript from his face, though he still wasn't turning around or even looking at Igarashi over his shoulder.

"I can't help it, you peeked it," Igarashi said, smiling.

Nanashima sighed. He still wasn't looking at Igarashi as he gave his response. "I guess it's a little bit of both, but primarily the latter," he said.

"Why is it problematic to say it to me, and why is it a problem to say it as you?" Igarashi asked, trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

Nanashima didn't respond right away. He was trying hard to come up with a response, but he couldn't seem to come up with a good lie, so he had to speak the truth.

"Because it feels weird for someone else to say that kind of stuff to you and just as weird for me to say it to someone else. To say it to you just… makes me feel funny," he said.

Igarashi was close to laughing, but he kept it down. He wasn't one to claim that he knew a lot about romance, but he had felt it, how it was to be in love with someone. He could easily recognize the feelings Nanashima was speaking of because he had felt them himself, and he still felt them whenever he read those lines.

"I bet you Jull feels funny too, when saying those lines to Milo, like he is free, like he is doing the right thing, confessing his love like that. Milo feels the same way when saying those things to Jull. I've come to terms with that and I understand completely how Milo feels." Igarashi said.

This made Nanashima turn his head to look at Igarashi. He raised one eyebrow, staring at the other in slight confusion. It was getting a little complex.

"Start making sense," he said.

"Okay, I'll explain it in a way you can understand," Igarashi said as he snuck a hand behind Nanashima's head, forcing their faces close as he pressed his lips against the other's. Nanashima didn't respond right away, being caught completely off guard by the other's actions.

When Igarashi pulled away, he simply looked at Nanashima's face and smiled as he watched the pieces fall into place. What he had said earlier, was slowly starting to make sense in Nanashima's mind.

"How does that feel?" Igarashi said, as he figured that Nanashima had comprehended everything.

Nanashima seemed to think. "Not so bad," he admitted. "I might actually… say it feels right."

Igarashi smiled. "Exactly what I wanted to hear," he said. "So just act as you."

"And you'll act as Milo," Nanashima determined.

Igarashi smirked. "No way. I'll act as Milo until you return the kiss I just gave you," he said.

Nanashima frowned, but then turned around completely and threw himself at Igarashi, forcing their lips together. However, he had too much force behind his body and Igarashi landed with his back on the floor, with Nanashima resting on top of him. The other didn't mind it though. He just placed a hand on Nanashima's neck, allowing his fingers to mess with the other's blonde hair.

Once Nanashima and Igarashi had finished kissing and gotten back to reading the manuscript, Serinuma opened the door as silently as possible and went to sit with them without saying a single word or making any kind of noise.

Nanashima and Igarashi took turns looking at her, but Serinuma didn't let anything on, aside from that little knowing smile on her lips, that appeared whenever she met the eyes of one of them.

Igarashi and Nanashima didn't need to talk it over to know that Serinuma had probably heard part of their conversation and that this was the reason she was smiling. Luckily for them, she never told anyone about her discovery. She didn't even hint at it. The only thing she did was send them that small knowing smile whenever no one else could see it.

Nanashima and Igarashi didn't tell anyone of what had happened either. They continued to act exactly like they normally would. They pretended to be in love with Serinuma. In reality, it would be safe to say that they were out of that race. However, they had gotten closer to her than the others. The three of them were sharing a secret. The question was how long it would take before that secret got out.

* * *

 **I might write more stories related to this one in the future, but right now, I'm really busy with schools since I'm graduating in June and exams are coming up. Within a short period of time I will also start publishing a crossover between Free! and YOI. It's not that long (less thatn 25 chapters) but I took more than three months writing it.**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading this story and to everyone who read, favorited, followed or left a review for Hotel Room Fantasies. **

**Jackie**


	2. Dramatic Dream

From the moment Serinuma presented the project to them, Shinomiya had been feeling very uncertain about it all. Sure, he wasn't forced to cross dress again, he wasn't even in one of the leading roles, but he was still part of the homosexual supporting cast, and that was what bothered him.

He wasn't homophobic, how could he be when it was common knowledge that Serinuma was a fujoshi and was shipping, not only Igarashi and Nanashima, but probably also him and Mutsumi?

This was actually what bothered him about the entire project. Sure he could play his role and say the lines to perfection, deliver them exactly how Serinuma wanted them. The problem was the strange, nervous, almost sickening knot he felt in his belly every time he had to say those lines. It didn't make it any better that it was Mutsumi standing at the receiving end.

Unlike Nanashima and Igarashi, Shinomiya and Mutsumi had been given their specific roles by Serinuma and Nishina. Mutsumi was the 'pitcher' and Shinomiya was the 'catcher' as the girls had put it. To begin with, Shinomiya hadn't been entirely sure of what that meant, but once they started practicing the play it was all way too clear. Not only could he tell the meaning of the terms from the lines he was reading aloud, but he also remembered that Serinuma and Nishina had had a fight once, where these terms had been the key words.

Another factor that worsened Shinomiya's situation was the fact that he could relate to his character, almost perfectly. All the lines that weren't little hints of flirting were things he could hear himself say on any normal day.

"Is something the matter?" Mutsumi asked while he and Shinomiya were walking home together one afternoon. Serinuma had gone to Nanashima's place with Igarashi as they could practice his lines together, he hadn't been doing well at all regarding the drama CD.

By Mutsumi's question, Shinomiya was suddenly snapped out of his train of thoughts, which he had been kept in ever since they left the school's campus and until now.

"Everything's fine," Shinomiya answered in a tone he hoped was assuring.

"Okay," Mutsumi said, but Shinomiya didn't think he sounded entirely convinced. He needed to find something else to talk about before the other could get the chance to ask more questions about what he was thinking.

"Do you think Nanashima-senpai will improve?" Shinomiya asked, in lack of anything better.

"That depends on the source of his insecurity," Mutsumi said, sounding like a wise, old man.

"The source of his insecurity?" Shinomiya wasn't dumb. The fact that Nanashima was feeling some sort of discomfort was obvious. He just wasn't sure what could be the possible root of the problem.

"If it's just linked to the role, he'll get over it with some practice. However, if it is linked to some person, like… Serinuma-san, it'll be harder to get over it so easily," Mutsumi paused a bit before continuing, now looking directly at Shinomiya. "You display something similar through your own body language. I won't be surprised if someone else have noticed."

"How do I do that?" Shinomiya asked in disbelief. He hadn't been aware of this at all, he didn't think anyone could tell from body language, then again, he had forgotten how much one could tell from body language alone.

"It's in the way you blush slightly after finishing each line, and in the way you hold the manuscript, you seem a little nervous," Mutsumi explained.

Shinomiya thought on that. He hadn't noticed any of this, but when he thought about it, he found that Mutsumi was right, at least regarding the way he held the manuscript.

"That's why I asked if something was bothering you," Mutsumi explained further, while smiling.

"Well, nothing's bothering me," Shinomiya answered in a slightly harsh tone. As he spoke, he stopped right by a street that lead away from the way he had been walking with Mutsumi. "I'm down this way," he said, still speaking to the other male in a cold tone.

"Okay," Mutsumi answered in a questioning and slightly hurt tone.

As Shinomiya turned around and walked away he had a slightly bad taste in his mouth. He knew he had hurt Mutsumi by his harsh tone, but he didn't know how to apologize to him properly. So even if it would have been better to turn around and apologize then and there, Shinomiya simply continued walking away, not looking over his shoulder at the other, not even once.

* * *

As Shinomiya came home, he still had that strange taste in his mouth and a slight feeling of guilt was roaming around in his stomach. The entire conversation with Mutsumi was on replay in his mind. It had been like that ever since he parted from the elder student. Even as he entered the house, he couldn't seem to think of anything other than Mutsumi. Everything he did was done, without him really thinking about it. He read in the textbooks without really comprehending the words, like he normally would, the math was done on auto pilot and he forgot to check his answers. He only spoke little at dinner and didn't eat much. This caused his mother to grow worried and she dragged him to the bathroom to take his temperature, worried that he might have a fever.

It wasn't until he returned to his room and got started on practicing the manuscript that he started waking up again and was able to actually concentrate on what he was doing. But while he was practicing the lines, he suddenly came to wonder about something.

"How would it be if I told this to Mutsumi-senpai?" he asked aloud, and then he immediately raised both his hands to cover his mouth, unable to believe what he had just said, that he had said those things aloud no less. He felt his face heat up a tiny bit.

To make matters worse, his mother opened the door and entered just then, upon seeing the red in his cheeks and the way he was covering his mouth, which looked much like he was about to throw up and trying to hold it in, she sent him straight to bed while expressing her deep concerns for him and wondering aloud if she should have him stay home tomorrow. Shinomiya protested, saying that he was fine, but his mother didn't listen, being too busy with her own concerns.

* * *

They were outside, someplace a little ways away from everyone else. The school building was towering above them, but in the green place, it didn't seem to matter. They were having lunch, all six of them together. Serinuma was smiling and laughing in that cute way all of the others had fallen in love with. She was talking to Nishina about Mirage Saga.

"I still want for Shion to come back to life in the next season," Serinuma said with sparkling eyes.

"If you're dead, you can't just come back to life like that," Nanashima said, sticking to facts.

"That depends on how he died, Nana, if it was just referred to or if it was actually seen in the anime," Igarashi argued patiently.

"That reminds me," Mutsumi began. "You never told us how he died, Serinuma-san."

Serinuma nodded her head, her smile was slowly turning into a sorrowful expression as she started thinking about it. Why did Mutsumi suggest this if he knew thinking about Shion was obviously going to hurt Serinuma? But Shinomiya wasn't in any position to say anything. Normally he was one of those who said something without thinking, Mutsumi was the opposite, nice and caring, always keeping Serinuma's well-being as his first priority.

"Well… He fought bravely," as she spoke about it, she slowly started lighting up again. "He fought a battle where the odds were against him, and it went wrong, he died, it was shown in the anime," Serinuma said.

"That's sad," Nanashima said.

Shinomiya nodded his head in agreement.

Suddenly, Serinuma started moving her head uncomfortably, as if there was something making her feel bad about something. Shinomiya studied the space around her, but didn't think he saw anything, but he wasn't the only one who noticed that something was off.

"What's the matter, Senpai?" Nishina asked.

"There's something here, something that buzzes, I wasn't able to see what it was, it's already disappeared," Serinuma said, sounding slightly uneasy. "I think it was a bee or a wasp, but I'm not entirely sure…" she still looked uncomfortably about, but she wasn't the first to catch sight of it again.

"It's over here!" Nanashima exclaimed, panicking. Now Shinomiya saw it too, seeing as he was sitting right next to Nanashima. It was a wasp, the biggest he had ever seen. It had six legs, two wings, and black and yellow stripes on its body. It was flying about Nanashima, probably attracted to the meat in his lunch. Those things did tend to go for meat later in the season.

"Sit still!" Shinomiya exclaimed, knowing that this was the best way to avoid it. However, the technique didn't help him.

As if the bug was attracted to his yell, it started flying directly towards his face. Shinomiya was only able to watch as the thing grew bigger and bigger, he thought he saw a glimmer of something red in the tiny black face, as if its eyes had turned red with evil. He raised his hand to protect himself and suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of the hand, right by the pinky finger.

"Ah!" Shinomiya exclaimed as his brain managed to fully register the pain coming from his hand, and he flinched away.

Suddenly, he felt someone's hand wrap around his and it was moved quickly as someone pressed their lips on where the wasp had stung him. He looked up to see his hand slightly inside Mutsumi's mouth, the elder student sucking like his life was depending on it.

"We should go inside," Igarashi said.

"Good idea, Igarashi," Nishina said, and Shinomiya watched as she and Serinuma stood up, so did Nanashima and Igarashi. Mutsumi stood as well, pulling Shinomiya on his feet, seeing as he was still sucking on the other's hand. However, he let go as they headed inside.

"I will take Shinomiya-kun to the infirmary," Mutsumi said.

"Shouldn't I do it?" Serinuma asked, "I'm on the nursing committee," she justified.

"I can do it myself," Shinomiya said. "I'm on the nursing committee too."

Mutsumi shook his head, he was still gently holding onto Shinomiya's hand. "I will take him there and treat him, it's no trouble," he said, smiling gently.

They walked to the infirmary. Mutsumi opened the door and had Shinomiya sit on a chair, he took a look at the sting on Shinomiya's hand. "How does it feel?" he asked, giving off the impression that he knew exactly what he was dealing with.

"It hurts, and stings a little too," Shinomiya explained.

"Alright," Mutsumi said before he began the treatment. He used a suction disc to remove what remained of the poison from the sting, and then he put on some cream that would lessen the pain for the time being. Then he put a bandage on to keep the cream from being wiped off immediately and grabbed a plastic bag, putting ice cubes in it and placing it on the bandage.

"Senpai… why do you do all this?" Shinomiya asked while watching Mutsumi holding the ice pack still.

"Because I care about you," Mutsumi replied, straightforwardly. "I don't like the sight of you being in pain, it makes me want to do something about it."

"What are you talking about?" Shinomiya asked, utterly confused, yet, the feelings inside him told him that the words were creating a hope, a hope he didn't want to be turned out.

"You're the most important to me," Mutsumi said, smiling up at Shinomiya. "I can't stand to watch you get injured like this, it makes me feel sad," he said.

"Why?" Shinomiya asked, wanting it to mean the thing he was hoping it would mean, but fearing that it meant something slightly different.

Mutsumi stood, still keeping the icepack in place with one hand while he placed the other on Shinomiya's cheek, ever so gently, as if the larger student was afraid to break him. Normally, Shinomiya wouldn't like people treating him like this, but with Mutsumi, it absolutely didn't matter one bit. In fact, he found that he liked the warmth of the gentle touch.

"I like you," Mutsumi said, bringing his face closer to Shinomiya's. "I want us to go out."

Shinomiya was overjoyed, it had been exactly like he had hoped for. But there was a tiny problem. With his wish coming true, he wondered what the others would think, how they would react.

"I want… I want to go out with you too," Shinomiya said. "But… can we… could we please keep it a secret from everyone else? I really don't want anyone to know." He could feel himself blush as he stated this request, just the thought embarrassed him.

"Of course," Mutsumi smiled. "Now… don't you have something you need to apologize for?"

"I…" Shinomiya hesitated as something slowly came to mind, the events of the day before, and while that was entering his head, so did a sharp sound. It took him some time to realize what it was, but when he finally did, he was able to pull away from the nice scenario.

* * *

The sound was coming from his alarm clock. He woke up, and stared at it with saddened eyes. Why did it have to remind him that all the things that had just happened was only part of a dream and that his relationship with Mutsumi was as far from what it had been in that dream as it could get. It wasn't corresponding to reality at all.

Shinomiya sat up in bed while collecting his thoughts. What had aspired for this dream to come to be. Why had he dreamt something like that? He decided to pull on the knowledge he had about dreams. They were projections of the brain, taking in people and wishes and mixing that, as well as thoughts and memories into a scenario where realism played no part. The keyword was wishes and desires.

Did he desire for something like this to happen? He surely didn't desire being stung by a wasp, and certainly not one of that size. Who would want that anyway. The most desirable of that dream would probably be the love confession. That thought caused the young boy to shake his head violently. Did he want for Mutsumi to confess to him? Was that it? The beating of his heart told him that this probably was the case. Did he like Mutsumi? What about Serinuma? Shinomiya was very confused, and when his mother came into his room ten minutes later, he was still sitting in bed, deep in thoughts. Upon calling his name, she couldn't even contact him to begin with. When she finally got his attention, she demanded that he stayed in bed, in order to prevent him from getting even sicker than he already was.

"But I'm not sick, I'm fine!" Shinomiya exclaimed at the closed door. His mother didn't hear a word of what he said.

* * *

Shinomiya spent all day at home, thinking about the dream, coping with it, and the thoughts it had led to. After a time, he finally arrived at the conclusion that he probably did like the elder student and went to the next stage of his thinking process. How to deal with it? He had a small thing to keep in mind regarding that. Just like he had told Mutsumi in his dream, he didn't want for any of the others to figure out that they were going out, that meant that he would need to confess while there was no one else around.

The school day was about to end when he arrived at the conclusion of what he should do, problem was that he still didn't have a clear answer, but he was motivated to do something, and he knew it had to be now or never, otherwise he would never get it done.

Shinomiya got out of bed and went to find his school uniform, quickly pulling it on and hurrying out of his room and continuing to the front door where he hurriedly pulled on his shoes and rushed out the door. If his mother discovered him out of bed after she had dictated otherwise, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

Once he was out of the house, he ran as fast as he could in order to be sure that he made it on time, hoping that they were canceling the practice today because of his absence. This would mean that Mutsumi would arrive right at the spot where they had parted ways on the day before.

There was no one at the spot when Shinomiya arrived. He hadn't expected for anyone to be there in the first place. Mutsumi wouldn't be waiting for him or anything, yet the absence of someone worried him slightly. He had to check his phone in order to make sure that there was no way Mutsumi could have passed by this spot yet.

He waited around for a little while, counting each passing minute and looking around every corner, hoping to see Mutsumi coming sometime soon. For each passing minute, Shinomiya lost a tiny bit of hope. Maybe they really had gone to practice without him. That meant Mutsumi wouldn't pass by here whatsoever. There was absolutely no way he would, it would be way out of his way.

But after waiting around for nearly fifteen minutes, Shinomiya finally saw the tall senior turning the corner, the exact corner he would turn if he was coming from school. Shinomiya studied the elder student's face carefully as he approached. He could clearly see when Mutsumi noticed him. It was as if his face lit up and a soft glow came over it.

"Shinomiya," Mutsumi said, sounding both surprised and slightly happy to see the younger. "I thought you were sick today."

"It's not so bad," Shinomiya said, he couldn't exactly say that he hadn't been sick, it would seem wrong if he did. The fact that his mother had misunderstood completely was a different side of the story. "I just… I had something I wanted to say to you."

"To me?" Mutsumi asked, obviously wondering what that could be. Shinomiya only wished he would get a clue.

"About yesterday…" he muttered, finding it very hard to say. "You… you were just being concerned about me and I… I think I might have been a little too… too harsh…" he hesitated, why was it so hard to make the final words come over his lips?

"I was being nosy," Mutsumi said. "Don't worry."

"You weren't nosy," Shinomiya looked up, frustrated with the other. Why was he apologizing when he hadn't been at fault at all? "You were just being concerned and I was way too rude in my response. I'm sorry!" Before he knew it, he had said the word he had found so difficult to let over his lips, just the day before. He had managed to apologize, now at least he was feeling better.

"It didn't bother me. That's just the way you are," Mutsumi said, still with that nice attitude about him. How open-minded could this guy be?

"Well… that's good I guess," Shinomiya said, looking away from Mutsumi's face.

"But shouldn't you be home in bed, Shinomiya-kun?" Mutsumi asked, genuinely concerned.

"It's not so bad," Shinomiya said, still looking away.

"I will walk you home," Mutsumi said, placing his hand lightly on his junior's back and leading him towards his home, without listening to any protests the other made.

Normally, Shinomiya would have minded if anyone just decided to walk him home like this. He wasn't some girl who needed protection all the time, anything but that. But to have Mutsumi walk him home didn't seem so bad. It was partly because of the feelings he had realized he had for the elder male, but also partly because they walked about half of the way home together anyway. For the other to walk him all the way wasn't much different from how it normally was.

"If you're up for it, and are feeling okay by tomorrow, we have agreed to meet at Nishina-san's place to practice even more. Serinuma also has some shopping she needs to do. We all agreed to go with her."

"I'll come with you then," Shinomiya said.

"Only if you're not sick," Mutsumi said, in a slightly strict tone.

"I'm not sick," Shinomiya said.

Mutsumi stopped and turned towards Shinomiya, placing a hand on his forehead with a concerned expression on his face. "You don't seem to have a fever," he said as he moved his hand away. "Then you should come along. Though, keep your health in mind," he warned, while smiling.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Shinomiya asked in a slightly harsh tone. He realized right after he had finished speaking and looked worriedly up at Mutsumi's face.

"Don't worry," the other said. "It's just who you are." He turned around, facing forward again. "Shall we go?" he asked, and they continued on the way to Shinomiya's home. Mutsumi stayed and watched until Shinomiya had entered the house and waved goodbye as Shinomiya closed the door behind himself.

* * *

All of them mostly spent the weekend at Nishina's place. They went out shopping on the first day. Serinuma had a lot of stuff she needed to buy and Nishina had something too, apparently. Despite the boys not needing to buy anything, they weren't bored at all. At the shop, there were other things to look at. By the shelves for Mirage Saga, Igarashi and Nanashima were stopped by a bunch of girls who were staring at Nanashima, noting how much he looked like Shion. Igarashi only laughed and took part in the conversation, to Nanashima's obvious irritation.

Mutsumi declared that he didn't want to let Shinomiya out of his sight, seeing as he was worried about his health, so Shinomiya was dragged with the other to look at all sorts of historical manga. The historical genre did bother him a bit, but once Mutsumi got going, he found that he learned a lot about history that he hadn't been taught in class. It seemed there were a few benefits in hanging around an upperclassman.

After shopping, they went out to eat before they went back to Nishina's place to practice the manuscript once more. Nanashima and Igarashi went into a room by themselves to go over a few scenes that they had trouble with while Shinomiya and Mutsumi stayed with Serinuma and Nishina to practice whatever scenes they could, but since the leading roles were elsewhere, there were quite a few limits to how much they could do.

On Sunday, they went over the manuscript together. Shinomiya listened to everyone and noted how Nanashima especially had improved. He also noted how he acted himself. He was still blushing a lot, and after finishing one of those embarrassing lines, he was looking just about anywhere else but at the one he was speaking to, Mutsumi. But the elder student seemed unaffected.

When Monday came, Shinomiya was allowed back to school by his mother, he had been out all weekend and seemed to be fine, so she didn't say a thing. Shinomiya was happy about that. He went to school and had classes like usual, missing out on one day wasn't easy, but at least it had only been one day and not more. He had lunch with the others and they talked a lot about the weekend while he was sitting and thinking about his problems. This was primarily the issue with him confessing to Mutsumi. He had wanted to do it before the weekend, but it had seemed too soon and they had ended up talking about his own health. He couldn't tell the other about the dream he had had.

Because he had had to postpone the confession, he found that most of his courage to tell Mutsumi how he felt had also left him. How could he confess when he didn't have the courage to do so? If he waited, would he risk that the courage faded even further away. If his courage ceased to exist, would this just become a crush that never turned into anything, even if it had the potential?

"Oi, Shinomiya!" Nanashima called. "Are you even listening?"

"Wha-what?" Shinomiya exclaimed, snapping out of his thoughts.

"We're talking about starting recording from tomorrow," Nanashima filled him in. "Are you ready?"

"Ye-yeah," Shinomiya said, only stuttering slightly. He was ready. He had already managed to memorize most of his lines. He could read the rest without any trouble though and acting it out was easy.

"That's great!" Serinuma was beaming with excitement. She turned to Nishina. "I can't wait to hear the finished product!"

"I can't wait either," Nishina said, smiling softly. "As it is now, it seems to be turning out great."

"I really can't wait," Serinuma said.

"Nana, want to go to my place and practice this afternoon?" Igarashi said. "There are a few things I think it'd be best to go over before we start the recording."

"Didn't you just say you were ready?" Nanashima asked.

"I'm ready, it's just for good measure," Igarashi replied.

The little, knowing smile Serinuma flashed while this scene played out, didn't go completely beyond Shinomiya's attention. He wondered what was up with that, but his own problems were taking up a lot more of his thoughts. Thinking further about what was up between Nanashima, Igarashi and Serinuma wasn't something he could do right now.

"Shinomiya-kun, do you mind staying behind until I'm done with club activities for the history club?" Mutsumi asked. "I also have a few scenes I want to go over."

"Uh… sure," Shinomiya said. "Here or…?"

"Let's meet at the history club room," Mutsumi said. "Once everyone's gone, we have it all to ourselves."

"That sounds fine," Shinomiya replied, not looking at Mutsumi. Over the weekend, that had gradually become more and more difficult. It was as if looking at Mutsumi was equivalent to a confrontation with his own feelings.

"Can't Shinomiya-kun just come with us to the history club?" Serinuma asked Mutsumi.

"I still have a bit of studying I'd like to get out of the way," Shinomiya dismissed immediately. That was true, besides he wasn't too interested in history, not as much as it would require to want to participate in club activities about history.

"That might be for the better," Mutsumi agreed before informing Shinomiya of when the club hours would end, as if he didn't already know that. The conversation continued on a completely different subject which everyone were much more comfortable with.

* * *

After school, Shinomiya went to study in the library by himself while club hours lasted. It worked out exactly like he'd hoped. He managed to finish just as club hours ended and packed everything away to go to the club room where he knew the history club was located. As he turned down the hallway, he almost ran directly into Serinuma, who smiled upon seeing him.

"Mutsumi-senpai's waiting," she informed. "I was the last one to leave."

"Okay," Shinomiya said.

"Is something the matter, Shinomiya-kun?" Serinuma asked.

Shinomiya looked up at her with slightly surprised eyes. "Not really," he said. "Why do you ask, Senpai?" he asked her.

"You've been spacing out a lot lately," Serinuma said. "And you were absent before the weekend. I was a little worried about you then too, so was Mutsumi-senpai, we talked about it."

"Well, I'm fine," Shinomiya said, doing his best to keep the tone light and keep a smile on his face.

Serinuma sent him a slightly concerned look, but then smiled. "I'm glad to hear that, Shinomiya-kun," she said before she told him goodbye and left, heading the opposite way of him. Shinomiya only continued down the hallway to the history club's club room and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Mutsumi answered, his voice slightly muffled from behind the door.

Shinomiya pushed the door open and entered the clubroom with slight hesitation in his steps. He felt a nervous knot in his stomach, similar to how he had felt when reading his lines aloud on the first day of the project.

"Shinomiya, have a seat," Mutsumi said, gesturing to all the chairs around the table in the club room.

Shinomiya slowly made his way further inside and seated himself right across from Mutsumi. He pulled the manuscript out of his school bag and laid it out on the table in front of him, using this as an excuse to look down as his bangs would hide the worst of his blushing.

"I wanted to go through the additional scene one, as well as act two scene four and additional scene three." Mutsumi said. Serinuma had added three more scenes to put a little more focus on the background relationship, the one made up of Mutsumi's and Shinomiya's characters.

"That's three scenes," Shinomiya said, flipping through the manuscript until he reached the first additional scene.

"I'm just uncertain about a few things," Mutsumi said.

Shinomiya understood why. They had practiced all three scenes a number of times, but there had always been at least one error while they had practiced, most of them had been made by him because he had been too caught up in his own thoughts and forgotten to say the lines.

"Mutsumi-senpai, you have the first line," Shinomiya said.

Mutsumi nodded his head and read the first line in the tone he used when playing his role. Shinomiya continued by reading the next line aloud, acting as his role. They acted through all three parts, Mutsumi stumbled at a word in a sudden line and Shinomiya forgot that he had to speak a couple of times, but otherwise, the practice went okay.

"I'm still not entirely satisfied, but I doubt it'll get much better," Mutsumi said while preparing to pack the manuscript away.

"What do we do if we mess up tomorrow?" Shinomiya asked.

"Hmm..." Mutsumi thought about it. "Do the scene all over from the beginning, I think. There's nothing else we can do really."

"That would be bad…" Shinomiya said. He wondered what would happen if either Nanashima or Igarashi screwed up that scene where they had to kiss, or at least make a sound that made it clear what they were doing. Neither of them would be happy if they had to kiss again.

"You're smiling," Mutsumi pointed out. "Why?" he asked.

"I just thought about now Nanashima-senpai and Igarashi-senpai would feel if they had to repeat the kissing scene," Shinomiya said. "They probably won't be too pleased." As he spoke, the smile was completely wiped off his face, but he still felt slightly amused.

"I think so too, though I don't see the big problem," Mutsumi said.

"We don't have a kissing scene," Shinomiya pointed out.

"I know," Mutsumi said. "But I personally don't think I'd mind kissing another guy that much," he said.

Shinomiya shook his head, that was so typical of Mutsumi to say. He wasn't sure he could do it, especially with his newly discovered feelings for Mutsumi. He could neither kiss him or someone else, both wouldn't feel right.

"Shinomiya-kun," Mutsumi said, snapping Shinomiya out of his thoughts with immediate effect. "You're zoning out again," he pointed out.

"A-Am I?" Shinomiya asked, a little startled.

Mutsumi nodded his head. "You tend to do that a lot while we're acting too, in fact, you've been doing it a lot lately. What's on your mind?" he asked.

"No-," Shinomiya was about to deny anything being on his mind, but it wasn't right, he would be lying again, and since Mutsumi had asked him three times within five days, there was probably no reason to deny anymore. The fact that he had figured out it was a lie was obvious. "Just stuff," Shinomiya therefore said.

"What kind of stuff?" Mutsumi asked, concerned.

"Just… stuff…" Shinomiya could feel the heat in his cheeks as he thought about what kind of stuff it was. He wanted to say it, he really did, but the thought made him nervous. He was scared of what would happen if he said it, would Mutsumi deny him? It was clear he was interested in Serinuma rather than anyone else, being the most honest of them all. Being denied was probably more likely than an acceptance. Maybe they could still be friends though, maybe nothing would really change in their friendship because Mutsumi was as open-minded as he was. For once, Shinomiya was grateful about that.

"Do you have something you want to say?" Mutsumi guessed, causing Shinomiya to jolt and then freeze on the spot, wondering how the other could guess so accurately.

"I… yeah," he admitted.

"What is it, I'm listening," Mutsumi said, giving off that comfortable vibe that told Shinomiya that he could basically tell him anything without fear, but how did he do this without being too blunt about it?

"Senpai I…" he trailed off, hesitating, still wondering how he should say it. But now he was talking, putting together the words would take too much time and he would lose the courage he had just gained. "I like you, Mutsumi-senpai!" Shinomiya almost exclaimed, shutting his eyes tight and facing the table rather than the boy sitting across from him.

"I like you too, Shinomiya-kun," Mutsumi said in a casual tone.

"No, I like you as in… as in… I'm in love with you!" Shinomiya exclaimed.

"That's what I'm talking about too," Mutsumi said, still being way too calm about it, but this caused Shinomiya to open his eyes and look up at the other in surprise. This was not the response he had expected, far from it.

"But… but what about Serinuma-senpai?" Shinomiya asked.

"I like her too, we're good friends," Mutsumi said. "I could ask you the same though," he was still speaking in a considerably calm tone that made Shinomiya wonder if he really was serious or not.

"I… Well… I just realized that I… that I like you like that. Serinuma-senpai is a nice person and I still want her to see me as a man someday but I don't think it's because I'm in love with her as much as I just want to impress her," Shinomiya explained.

"Like a younger brother want to impress his older sister?" Mutsumi suggested.

"Something like that…" Shinomiya said.

"You're still nervous, Shinomiya-kun. Don't you believe what I said earlier?" Mutsumi asked. "About liking you?" he continued.

Shinomiya had to wonder again how the other could guess so accurately, but there was no use in denying. "When you say it with such a calm attitude, it's hard to tell if you mean it or if you're just being nice," he said.

Mutsumi smiled and leaned over the table, grabbing Shinomiya's chin with one hand and tilting his head slightly upward. Their faces were millimeters away from each other, until they suddenly weren't, the gap had been closed by Mutsumi, whose lips were now pressed on Shinomiya's. Due to the shock, Shinomiya was unable to respond, and it was still hard when Mutsumi let go of his chin and pulled away, sitting back on the chair across from him.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked.

Shinomiya nodded his head. "So… are we…" he hesitated, couldn't really bring himself to say it.

"If you want to say we're going out as boyfriends, I suppose we are," Mutsumi answered, still keeping calm.

"Then can we… please not let anyone else know, I don't think I'm ready for that yet," Shinomiya said.

"We'll keep it at your pace then," Mutsumi said, reassuringly. "We could still pretend like we're in the race for Serinuma-san's heart. No one would notice anything if we just do stuff like this when we're by ourselves." He said.

"Okay, let's do that then," Shinomiya said, feeling just a little bit more comfortable with the situation.

"Should I walk you home again today?" Mutsumi asked.

"Do what you want," Shinomiya said, trying to act a little cold. He could walk home by himself, but the thought of walking all the way back home with Mutsumi was surprisingly appealing.

"Then I'll walk you home," Mutsumi said, smiling.

And so, the two high school boys walked home together. You couldn't see on them that anything had changed, you couldn't even hear it in the way they were talking to each other, but there was a vibe in the air between the two, something in the way they looked at each other, something in the way Shinomiya would be cautious of the words he was using, as to not hurt the other, and the way Mutsumi would be just a tiny bit more forgiving whenever it happened. It didn't seem like anything had changed on the surface, but below, nothing was the same as before.

* * *

 **I apologize! I'm so sorry! I accidentally forgot to upload this story here as well as AO3. I only uploaded it on AO3. I'm very sorry about that. It was a mistake on my part.**

 **Enough apologies. I'm sorry that this has taken a while to come up. I came up with this two months ago and finished writing some time last month, so it has been underway for a while now. There might be a third story coming up for this, but I need to get a good idea of a plot first, before I can write it.**

 **At any rate, thanks for reading, it's much appreciated.**

 **Jackie**


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